Child-Theft Racket Growing in China

Although they had little money, they gave everything possible to their daughter and enrolled her in a special "Hope Primary School" three miles away. Given the reality of long hours and low wages, they taught her to take the public bus home by herself. In retrospect, they hate themselves for not being more vigilant. One witness later reported seeing a man with someone matching Ying's description, but the police didn't follow up on the lead.

Corruption is a problem in the lower ranks of China's privileged public security bureau, an organization more responsive to political pressure or personal incentive than any sense of public responsibility, analysts say.

"Most of these families have little chance of ever seeing their children again," said Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist with People's University in Beijing.

Sociologists, and other parents who have lost children, say the Cheng family fits the victim profile. Migrant workers living on the edge of China's big cities in poor neighborhoods filled with desperate people make easy pickings. Their lack of clout with authorities reduces the chances that kidnappers will get caught. And their children often fetch relatively high prices because they are thought of as smarter and better educated than those from rural areas.

The abductions hit the headlines in the early 1990s, trafficking experts say, with the numbers rising sharply in recent years in line with China's growing wealth and economy. Parents and scholars say that as the market develops and profits soar, relatively sophisticated gangs are replacing opportunistic freelancers or family rings in the child-theft racket.

Some children are also sold willingly by their parents, either in hopes they can have a son under China's one-child policy, or simply for cash. A father in Henan was sentenced to 10 years in jail and a $600 fine in May for selling his infant son for $1,100 to buy lottery tickets.

Several other factors drive demand. Buying a boy and "legalizing" the adoption with bribes are often far easier than going through China's formal adoption system.

"The adoption law really needs to be reviewed," said Huang Jinxia of Save the Children China, who oversees pilot programs in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces in the south to educate teachers and students about abduction risks. "With the legal route blocked, many people say, 'Why not buy a child?' "